Faith on Trial on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and on IowaCatholicRadio.com, examines the influence of law and society on Christianity and people of faith. "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Church must raise $68K for tax bill it doesn’t owe to stay alive; State Supreme Court refuses to hear church's case!

La
Paz County is forcing a small church in Quartzsite City that helps the homeless
to close its doors by June 15 unless it pays $68,000 in back-taxes and
penalties that both state law and the Arizona Department of Revenue say the
church doesn’t owe.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent Church of the Isaiah 58 Project
of Arizona in a lawsuit over the taxes, but because state courts have been
unwilling to defer payment of the back-taxes until litigation has completed,
the congregation is now facing foreclosure because it operates on a shoestring
budget of only $50,000 per year. Supporters of the church have contributed
money to help it pay the illegal tax bill so that it can stay open and continue
its lawsuit, but it still needs about $30,000 to avoid foreclosure due to a tax
lein on its property.

“Churches shouldn’t live in fear of being punished by the government when
they’ve not done anything wrong, but that’s precisely what is happening to this
church. If La Paz County officials have their way, this church will lose
everything,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley. “The county assessor
illegally levied these taxes against the church even though the Arizona
Department of Revenue provided a letter stating that the church should owe no
taxes. We join community leaders and the homeless whom the church serve in
hoping that the church will obtain the amount it needs to continue operating and
to continue its legal fight against this injustice.”

Under state law, the church qualified for an exemption from property taxes and
filed the appropriate paperwork with the La Paz County property assessor. The
assessor sat on the church’s paperwork for three years before granting a tax
exemption and then only granted it for the years 2009 and later, leaving the
church with back-taxes for 2007-2008 that it should not owe.

A September 2013 decision from the Arizona Court of Appeals in Church of the
Isaiah 58 Project of Arizona v. La Paz County upheld an earlier Tax Court
ruling that said the church should have paid the tax bill before challenging it
as illegal. ADF attorneys have argued, however, that state law does not require
the church to do so when it is challenging an illegally assessed tax so high
that the congregation can’t pay the bill and ask for a refund later.

The Arizona Supreme Court recently declined to hear an appeal, leaving the church
with no choice but to raise enough money to pay the illegal tax bill so it can
stay open, continue its lawsuit, and then seek a refund of the bill if it
prevails.

Wednesday, the Houston City
Council and lesbian Mayor Annise Parker, by a vote of 11-6, approved the
controversial LGBT ordinance that has dogged the Council for weeks. The Council
was forced to delay action on the issue due to a flood of opposition amongst a
diverse group of citizens and local leaders and fear over the impact of
enforcement on public safety and the local economy. During public testimony
before the final vote, leading local African American pastors walked out of the
council chambers after homosexual advocates were given priority placement for
testimony at the beginning of the meeting, while the Mayor and some council
members voted to keep the pastors further down on the list.

Mayor Parker has conceded that the ordinance would apply to men who seek to use

women’s bathrooms. The city attorney has also admitted that the ordinance can
be used to prosecute photographers and private business owners who choose not
to participate in same sex ceremonies, when doing such causes them to violate their
conscience and/or religious beliefs. With this vote, the Houston City Council
has said that homosexual conduct trumps religious liberty and free speech.

“Today the Houston
City Council voted to have homosexual conduct trump religious liberty and free
speech with this ordinance,” said Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values Action. “This ill-advised power grab by Mayor Parker will be used a weapon to
attack people of Christian faith, and that’s a shame.”

Supporters of Texas
Values Action sent over 110,000 e-mail messages in opposition to the
ordinance have already been sent to the Council members in a matter of weeks,
more than the 98,000 votes Mayor Parker received in her re-election in 2013.

Breitbart reports that
there is now a movement to recall Mayor Parker.

Attorneys from the Thomas More Society have successfully defended pro-life sidewalk counselor Peggy McGinty
against spurious trespass charges brought by the Sioux City Planned Parenthood.
Ms. McGinty has been providing peaceful, pro-life sidewalk counseling outside
Planned Parenthood’s Sioux City, Iowa facility for 14 years, but in December of
2013, Planned Parenthood persuaded city authorities to bring criminal trespass
charges against her after she drove into its parking lot and quickly turned
around. Thomas More Society attorneys won a dismissal of her case last week, on
May
22nd, without trial, when Planned Parenthood’s witness failed to
appear.

“We are always ready and honored to
provide pro-lifers with timely, strong, and reliable legal defense,” said
Martin Cannon, attorney for Thomas More Society-Omaha. “When slammed with false
criminal charges, Ms. McGinty and other peaceful pro-lifers need not be left
defenseless against such intimidating tactics on the part of Planned
Parenthood, which takes delight in threatening pro-lifers with fines and jail
time and urges authorities, as in this case, to bring false charges which it
then fails to back up.”

For over a decade, Peggy McGinty has
been a regular pro-life sidewalk counselor in Sioux City, where she also works
with Mary's Choice, a crisis pregnancy center that shares a property line with
the abortion facility. Planned Parenthood has tried to frustrate the pro-lifers
by erecting a very tall, opaque fence around its property, to prevent sidewalk
counselors from seeing or communicating with abortion-bound women who enter the
lot.

Mary's Choice, however, countered
this tactic by building an elevated platform on its own side of the fence so
that counselors could offer assistance to women heading for the abortion
facility.

On a very cold morning last December
6, Ms. McGinty was ill and couldn’t be there for her counseling. But as she
puts it, “I don’t want the babies to die alone.” She drove to the clinic to
find out if it was open before she called sidewalk counselors to take her
place. Because of the tall fence, Ms. McGinty couldn't see whether there
were any cars in Planned Parenthood’s parking lot, and the gate to the elevated
platform on the Mary's Choice side was frozen to the ground.

Peggy drove into the
Planned Parenthood lot to see if there were cars there. There were no “No
Trespassing” signs posted. However, as she entered the parking lot to
quickly turn around, the Planned Parenthood security guard zoomed out in his
car from behind the building, blocking her exit. She signaled to him to roll
down his window, but he refused, calling police instead and lying to them that she was a repeat offender. Then Peggy was arrested
and charged with criminal trespass.

On May 22nd, Ms. McGinty, Thomas More attorney Martin
Cannon, and local pro-life attorney Zachary Hindman appeared in court, prepared for trial. Planned Parenthood’s
security guard, who had blocked Ms. McGinty and called the police, had been
directed to appear in court for the trial. But he never showed up, and the case
was dismissed. Sioux City’s prosecutor is wiser now and will likely
scrutinize the abortionists’ complaints more carefully before bringing new criminal
charges against pro-lifers.

Monday, May 26, 2014

As a follow-up
to our Memorial Day weekend, Tuesday’s FOT guest is Travis S. Weber, the
Director of the Center for Religious Liberty at the Family Research Council,
where he focuses on all manner of legal and policy issues pertaining to
religious freedom, especially those of our military service members.

Travis is an
attorney holding a J.D. from Regent University School of Law and an LL.M in
international law from Georgetown University Law Center. He is also a graduate
of the U.S. Naval Academy and served in the navy piloting E-6 aircraft.Before joining FRC he served as a private
attorney litigating federal civil rights cases and military-related legal
issues.

Join Deacon
Mike Manno and co-host Gina Noll as they visit with Travis and discuss other
legal and societal issues involving people of faith. All on Iowa Catholic
Radio, 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com,
beginning at 9 a.m. (CDT) and re-broadcast at 9 p.m.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

A federal court issued
an order this week that halts enforcement of the Obama administration’s HHS
mandate against two Christian colleges: Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa and
Cornerstone University in Michigan.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent the colleges in a lawsuit challenging the Obama Administration’s
mandate that forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral
convictions and under threat of heavy penalties, to provide insurance coverage
for pills and procedures that many Christians oppose. The two colleges object
to the government’s conclusion that they are not sufficiently religious to
qualify for the extremely narrow religious exemption from the mandate.

“Christian colleges should remain free to operate according to their defining
beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor. “Under this mandate,
religious employers have no real choice: they must either comply and abandon
their religious freedom, or resist and be taxed for their faith. If the
government can force Christian colleges to act contrary to their deeply-held
religious convictions, then the government can do just about anything. The
court was right to block enforcement of this unconstitutional mandate.”

The lawsuit, Dordt College v. Sebelius, filed in the U.S. District Court
for the Northern District of Iowa, Western Division, argues that the mandate
violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as well as the First and Fifth
amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

“With full knowledge that many religious organizations hold the same or similar
beliefs, the Defendants issued regulations that…trample on the freedom of the
Schools and millions of other American organizations and individuals to abide
by their religious convictions and comply with moral imperatives they believe
are decreed by God Himself,” the lawsuit states, adding that the mandate
“illegally and unconstitutionally coerces the Schools to violate” those
imperatives “under threat of heavy fines and penalties.”

The lawsuit also points out that “the government has provided thousands of
exemptions…for various groups, such as large corporations, but refuses to
exempt most religious groups from this unprecedented Mandate. Moreover,
the Mandate does not apply to countless ‘grandfathered’ employer group health
plans, through which millions of American women receive health insurance
coverage, belying any contention that the Mandate advances some compelling
government interest.”

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allied attorneys are also litigating 19
other lawsuits against the mandate. The lawsuits represent a large
cross-section of Protestants and Catholics who object to the mandate.

Liberty Institute triumphed in an important religious freedom
win for students in the public school system. In a victory for religious
freedom, Broward County Public Schools assented to our demands to comply with
the law by allowing Giovanni Rubeo and other students to read the Bible in
“free reading time” and in the “Accelerated Reader® Program.”

They also educated all district employees that the law requires
them to allow students this right.

This concession from Broward County Public Schools came after
Liberty Institute sent two demand letters and threatened legal action if the
school refused to restore Giovanni’s religious rights.

The case received national press coverage from Fox News, the
Drudge Report, Breibart.com, and Faith On Trial on Iowa Catholic Radio, as well
as flood of support for Giovanni and religious freedom poured in from Americans
across the nation.

AN OUTRAGEOUS VIOLATION

In April, Giovanni Rubeo, a fifth-grader from Ft. Lauderdale,
FL, was reading his Bible during “free reading time” when he was told by his
teacher to “put it on my desk.”

The teacher then informed Giovanni’s father in a phone message
that the Bible and “those books”—meaning religious books—were not allowed in
“my classroom.”The recorded voicemail awoke
millions of Americans to the crisis of religious discrimination in America’s
public classrooms.

WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR
SCHOOL DISTRICT

According to Jeremiah Dys,
Senior Counsel at Liberty Institute, "Now the Broward County Public
Schools says it will allow the Bible as part of the Accelerated Reader Program
and recanted what [its spokesperson] said to the Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel
on May 6, 2014. We are pleased they are now complying with the law and will
allow students to read their Bible during free reading time and within the
Accelerated Reader program.”

He continued, “We do not
know if the teacher is in trouble with the school district, but we will
continue to monitor this school system carefully to ensure that their actions
toward student religious liberty continue match their words."

PART OF A WIDER BATTLE

The
Rubeos are not alone in their battle to freely live out their faith. Other
students are also experiencing infringement of their religious rights, though
the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to carry out
our faith in our daily lives free from government interference and prohibits
government hostility to religion.

You can
monitor these issues every Tuesday at 9 & 9 (CDT) on Iowa Catholic Radio,
1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and streaming on IowaCatholicRadio.com; and also by
following us on Facebook and this blog.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

“A
federally funded children's hospital in Colorado is providing underage children
free birth control, the "morning-after" pill, and even intrauterine
devices – and under the law, parents don't have to know about it.”
﻿

After yesterday’s program with Troy Newman of
Operation Rescue, I received an e-mail

Abby Johnson

from a listener involved in pro-life
activities here in Des Moines.She told
me about a person she later helped who had a prior abortion.The woman, she wrote, “coded during the
abortion - then seized on the abortion table and not only did PP never call 911
(telling her boyfriend they didn't want alarm the other patients) but they
never gave her a directive to go see a doctor to get checked out.”

And they say they only want to help women!

In other abortion news, LifeSiteNews is
reporting that police recently had to break-up a fight between a 15-year old
girl and her mother inside a Bedford Heights, Ohio Planned Parenthood
clinic.The mother was apparently trying
to force the daughter to have an abortion that the girl did not want; the
daughter wanted to keep her baby.

Another
15-year old girl was reportedly locked inside an abortion facility when
she and her mother changed their minds about going through with the abortion.
Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic manager, and now a pro-life activist
and founder of the group And Then There Were None, received text messages from
the girl, who said she was locked inside a room at Buffalo Women’s Services.

Reports
of forced abortion are common especially for young girls who see no clear
option. In one prominent example from 2000, Florida mother Glenda Dianne Dowis pointed
a gun at her 16-year old daughter while taking her to an abortion clinic.Dowis was later sentenced to two years community
service for her actions.

Last
October, a Pennsylvania judge dropped charges against a mother who police said beat
her daughter in the abdomen when the girl refused to have an abortion.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday
with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit urging it to reject the
NAACP’s lawsuit against an Arizona bill that prohibits sex- and race-based
abortions.
ADF attorneys along with ADF-allied attorney and University of St. Thomas Law
Professor Teresa Collett represent bill sponsor Rep. Steve Montenegro, U.S.
Rep. Trent Franks, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, Dr. Alveda King,
and multiple African-American and women’s groups who oppose such abortions.
Montgomery is also serving as co-counsel.

“Every innocent life deserves to be protected, and that’s especially true of
any babies targeted for death simply because of their sex or race,” said ADF
Senior Counsel Casey Mattox. “Nothing about an abortion committed on the basis
of sex or race is medically necessary or constitutionally protected. The fact
that groups who supposedly exist to protect the interests of minorities and
women are attacking this law is scandalous.”

A district court dismissed the lawsuit in October of last year, but American
Civil Liberties Union attorneys representing the Maricopa County branch of the
NAACP and the National Asian-Pacific American Women’s Forum appealed that
decision.

The Frederick Douglass Foundation, Susan B. Anthony List, Radiance Foundation,
National Black Pro-Life Union, and University Faculty for Life also joined the
brief in support of the Arizona bill.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Tomorrow
on Faith on Trial our guest will be Troy
Newman, president of Operation Rescue,one of the leading
pro-life Christian organizations in the nation. Operation Rescue has been in
the forefront investigating the numerous injuries to women in abortion clinics
across the nation. These stories of mutilation and death and the sometimes callous
reactions of clinic staff are not covered by most of the mainstream media.

Troy actively worked
on behalf of the pre-born for over twenty years. Through innovative new
tactics, Newman’s work is responsible for the closure dozens of abortion
clinics around the nation. He continues as an innovator of new tactics that
have helped close abortion clinics and garner criminal prosecutions for
abortionists from coast to coast.

In 2006, Newman bought
and closed Central Women’s Services, an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas,
that has been renovated and now serves as Operation Rescue’s national
headquarters and a memorial to the pre-born.

Join Deacon Mike and
co-host Gina Noll as they discuss these issues and the danger to women’s health
from these clinics tomorrow morning at 9 (CDT) on Iowa Catholic Radio, 1150 AM;
88.5 & 94.5 FM and streaming live on IowaCatholicRadio.com.The program will be re-broadcast tomorrow
evening at 9 for those who cannot listen in the morning. And don’t forget to “like”
us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @FaithOnTrial, and subscribe to this
blog to keep up to date on activities and legal issues involving persons of
faith.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Alliance Defending Freedom has sent a letter to Jefferson County Public Schools in Kentucky
that asks it to reverse a decision by the Atherton High School principal to allow children to use bathrooms and
changing areas reserved for the opposite sex. The letter provides a
recommended policy that addresses the school’s concerns about discrimination
without allowing the sharing of bathrooms.

The ADF letter explains that, contrary to the principal’s decision, no law
requires public schools to allow boys into girls’ restrooms or girls into boys’
restrooms. In fact, the district

could be subjecting itself to legal liability
for violating students’ privacy rights and placing them in potentially unsafe
conditions.

“A school district’s duty is to protect its students,” said ADF Legal Counsel
Jonathan Scruggs. “The school district should adopt policies that protect
student privacy and safety, not open itself to legal liability from students
whose privacy rights are harmed by misguided policy decisions.”

“Every student has a right to privacy and safety. There is no legal mandate
that requires every child in the district to give up these rights because a boy
wants to use the girls’ restroom,” added ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy
Tedesco. “The only sensible, objective, and enforceable policy is one that
ensures single-sex access to areas where children undress or engage in other
activities that require privacy. The ADF model policy addresses the problems
the district is trying to solve without compromising student privacy and
safety.”

The ADF letter cites pertinent legal precedent, including a 2006 U.S. Court of
Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruling that employers do not violate federal law
when they restrict restrooms and changing areas to members of the same sex for
privacy and safety reasons.

“Based on such cases, JCPS does not have any legal duty to open changing areas
to opposite-sex students as a means to prevent discrimination. There simply is
no discrimination in protecting young children from inappropriate exposure to
the opposite-sex,” the ADF letter states.

“Permitting students to use opposite-sex restrooms would seriously endanger
student safety, undermine parental authority, and severely impair an
environment conducive to learning,” the letter continues. “These dangers are so
clear-cut that a school district allowing such activity would clearly subject
itself--and its teachers--to tort liability. We therefore suggest that JCPS
reverse the decision of Atherton’s principal and prohibit students from using
opposite-sex changing areas.”

In the letter, ADF offers to defend the school district free of charge if it
adopts the ADF-recommended policy and then faces any legal challenge over it in
court. Clint Elliott, one of more than 2,300 attorneys allied with Alliance
Defending Freedom, is serving as local counsel in the matter.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Today, Liberty Institute on behalf of Hemphill, TX resident Jeanette Golden sent a demand
letter to the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) after it banned her
from placing a Ten Commandments sign on her own private property.
According to an e-mail from the TXDOT Associate General Counsel, “the sign
cannot be permitted” and “no permit is possible.” The TXDOT attorney also
joked that he “wonder[ed] how they’d feel about a quote from the Quran?”

In the letter, Liberty
Institute attorneys explain that the ban violates Mrs. Golden’s right to
freedom of religious expression, and specifically the Texas Religious Freedom
Restoration Act (TRFRA), federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act (RLUIPA), the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and
Article I, Section 6 of the Texas Constitution. The letter gives the department
60 days to respond, and it requests that TXDOT immediately rescind its ban and
removal order, and allow Mrs. Golden to keep the religious sign on her private
property.

“It is outrageous that TXDOT is preventing Texans from having signs on their
own private property,” said Mike Berry, Liberty Institute Senior Counsel and a
former FOT guest. “Religious freedom and
private property rights are some of the most sacred rights Texans and Americans
enjoy, dating back to the founding of Texas and our nation. It is also
shocking that a TXDOT attorney would belittle the religious beliefs of Texans.”

In August 2013, Mrs. Golden, acquired a 6 x 12-foot sign, depicting the Bible’s
Ten Commandments from the organization God’s Ten. She placed the sign on
her private property, located near Hemphill, Texas, in Sabine County.

The bill would thus allow a lesbian couple to state on a birth certificate that
a child has two mothers, a mother and female “father,” or two female
"fathers." Likewise, a gay couple could self-identify as two
fathers, a father and a male “mother,” or two male
"mothers."

Pacific Justice Institute sent a letter to Gomez formally opposing AB
1951. The bill passed through the Assembly late last week and is now in
the Senate. AB 1951 is supported by the ACLU, the mayor and City Council
of Los Angeles, the AFSCME union, Planned Parenthood of California, and several
gay rights groups.

Brad Dacus, a frequent FOT guest and president of Pacific Justice Institute,
commented, “In a season where we have just celebrated Mother’s Day and will be
celebrating Father’s Day next month, it is astounding that lawmakers want to
render these concepts meaningless. Playing a labeling game does not
change the reality of whether one is a dad or a mom. These types of
absurd laws make our state a laughingstock and diminish respect for the
law. They also make it clearer than ever that redefining marriage is just
the starting point for LGBT activists who want to redefine everything about the
family.”

Californians should contact their state Senators to voice their concerns about
AB 1951. Citizens in all states are encouraged to ask candidates seeking
election in this year’s midterm elections whether they support or oppose
redefining marriage, family, and gender.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Tuesday we celebrate our first full year on air as a half-hour
program.Joining us in studio for our
celebration, and contributing to our discussion of recent cases involving
people of faith, will be our chief underwriter Attorney Rick McConville, of Coppola, McConville, Coppola, Hockenberg & Scalise PC in West Des Moines.
Rick is an old friend of Deacon Mike, they both attended St. Theresa grade
school, Dowling Catholic, and Creighton University within a few years of one
another.

Additionally, joining us by phone will be Attorney Frank Harty
who is local counsel with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty representing a
Mennonite couple in Grimes, Dick and Betty Odgaard, who have refused on
religious grounds to rent their facility out for a same-sex wedding. Frank will
be giving us an update on that case. In addition we’ll be discussing the
fall-out from some other news including the removal of a verse of Psalms from a
Cedar Rapids fire truck, the Satanic Black Mass at Harvard, the latest in the
abortion wars and may other matters of interest.

So tune-in Tuesday morning at 9 (CDT) to listen to Deacon Mike,
Gina Noll, and Rick McConville discuss all the latest legal news that affect people
of faith.The program will be
re-broadcast tomorrow night at 9 p.m. on Iowa Catholic Radio 1150 AM; 88.5
& 94.5 FM and streaming live on IowaCatholicRadio.com.And don’t forget to “like” us on Facebook and
sign up to follow us on Twitter and subscribe to this blog; these are great
ways to keep up with the news between programs.

Friday, May 9, 2014

It seems that every week we have at least one news story
about a student who is being told not to read the bible during his free time,
or that she can’t say grace before her lunch.Kelly Shackelford, president of the Liberty Institute, discusses this in
this news clip.

Today Massachusetts’ highest court,
the Supreme Judicial Court, unanimously rejected the latest lawsuit
challenging the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, ensuring that
Massachusetts schoolchildren may continue reciting the Pledge in full each
morning. The American Humanist Association, an atheist advocacy group, sought
to overturn the Pledge in the lawsuit, claiming that the words “under God” were
unconstitutional. Local Massachusetts schoolchildren, their parents, and the
Knights of Columbus intervened in the lawsuit to defend the Pledge.

“Today the Court affirmed what
should have been obvious—‘God’ is not a dirty word,” said Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel at the
Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit law firm that has
defended the Pledge for over a decade. “And it isn’t discriminatory either. The
words ‘under God’ are a reminder to our children that government doesn’t give
us our rights and it can’t take them away either. Preserving the Pledge
protects the rights of every American.”

This is the Becket Fund’s fourth win
in court protecting “under God” from attack. Last year, after Middlesex
Superior Court Judge Jane Haggerty ruled in favor of the Pledge, the
American Humanist Association appealed her decision to Massachusetts’ highest
court. Oral arguments were held on September 4, 2013.

The unanimous Court rejected the
American Humanist Association’s argument that recitation of the Pledge
discriminates against atheist schoolchildren. Stating that recitation of the
Pledge is completely optional, the Court ruled that no child must be silenced
from reaffirming timeless American ideals because others disagree. Chief
Justice Roderick Ireland, writing for the unanimous court, stated “Here there
is no discriminatory classification for purposes of [the law] — no differing
treatment of any class or classes of students based on their sex, race, color,
creed, or national origin. All students are treated alike.”

“For those who have been attacking
the Pledge we would offer this: our system protects their right to remain
silent, but it doesn’t give them a right to silence others.” Rassbach added.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Connecticut
pro-life leader and his family that are losing their health plan due to
Obamacare filed suit in federal court last week claiming the family is now
being forced on to the state’s health insurance exchange, which only offers
plans that require them to pay for other people’s abortions.

The lawsuit also challenges secrecy clauses within Obamacare which forbid
Americans from being told prior to enrollment whether the plans they would
purchase on an exchange will include abortion coverage. The clauses also forbid Americans from being told how much of the
premium is a federally mandated abortion surcharge that pays for other people’s
elective abortions.

“With Obamacare, if you like your current plan, you can’t always keep it, and
you may have to pay for other people’s abortions in your new plan,” said ADF
Senior Counsel Casey Mattox. “Neither the Constitution nor federal and state
law allow for this type of government coercion. The Obama administration may
not place a very high value on respecting a person’s constitutionally protected
freedoms, but both federal and state law do. We are asking the court to stop
the individual mandate from violating the rights of this family.”

“No one should be forced to pay for other people’s abortions,” added ADF Senior
Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “In America, we don’t separate what people do from
what they believe, and that’s why Obamacare’s attack on the freedoms of
Americans must stop.”

Barth and Abbie Bracy have insurance through a private insurer, but Obamacare
has forced the insurer to cancel the policy effective later this year. Now
being forced on to the Obamacare exchange in the state of Connecticut, the
Bracys are left only with plans that include a mandatory surcharge used to fund
the elective abortions of others. Ironically, Barth Bracy is executive director
of The Rhode Island State Right to Life Committee and has warned people of
exactly the problems his family is now facing.

Monday, May 5, 2014

This week’s guest is Dr.
Anne Hendershott, professor of sociology and the director of the Veritas Center
for Ethics and Public Policy at Franciscan University of Steubenville. She will
be joining Deacon Mike Manno and Gina Noll to discuss the pressure some
Catholic schools are under to abandon their moral teachings. She will discuss
with us some of the recent cases across the country and where she thinks this
is all heading.

Professor Hendershott is
the author of several books including The Politics of Abortion (2006), and The
Politics of Deviance (2002).She is well
known for her research and writings that fuse Catholic social teachings with
contemporary cultural issues. She regularly writes opinion pieces for The Wall
Street Journal, Catholic World Report, The Washington Times, National Review
Online, Crisis Magazine and other news outlets.

Join the deacon, Gina,
and the professor Tuesday morning at 9 (CDT) on Iowa Catholic Radio 1150 AM;
88.5 & 94.5 FM or listen to the program stream at
IowaCatholicRadio.com.The program will
be re-broadcast at 9 p.m.

The U.S. Supreme Court
Monday strongly affirmed the freedom of Americans to pray according to their
own beliefs at public meetings. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent
the town of Greece, N.Y. in the lawsuit, Town of Greece v. Galloway.

“The Supreme Court has
again affirmed that Americans are free to pray,” said ADF Senior Counsel David
Cortman. “In America, we tolerate a diversity of opinions and beliefs; we don’t
silence people or try to separate what they say from what they believe. Opening
public meetings with prayer is a cherished freedom that the authors of the
Constitution themselves practiced. Speech censors should have no power to
silence volunteers who pray for their communities just as the Founders did.”

“As a practice that has long endured, legislative prayer has become part of our
heritage and tradition, part of our expressive idiom, similar to the Pledge of
Allegiance, inaugural prayer, or the recitation of ‘God save the United States
and this honorable Court’ at the opening of this Court’s sessions…,” the
court’s opinion states. “That a prayer is given in the name of Jesus, Allah, or
Jehovah, or that it makes passing references to religious doctrines, does not
remove it from that tradition.”

Although the case centers on a New York town’s prayer practice, the court’s
decision has ramifications upon other similar cases still in progress in lower
courts. ADF attorneys will seek to resolve those cases in light of the
decision, and they plan a nationwide campaign to inform governmental bodies at
all levels that they are free to include prayer in their public meetings.

“You shouldn’t be forced to forfeit your freedom to appease someone who doesn’t
like what you say or believe,” said ADF Senior Counsel Brett Harvey, a recent
guest on FOT. “Opponents of prayer want to use government to attack our
freedom, but the Constitution established our government to protect our
freedom.”

“The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that the practice of prayer before
legislative bodies is firmly embedded in the history and traditions of this
nation,” Hungar added. “In so doing, they have simply reinforced what has been
true about America since its founding: Americans should be free to speak and
act consistently with their own beliefs.”

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Faith on Trial host Deacon Mike Manno has
been named diocesan director of the diaconate by Bishop Richard Pates, bishop
of the diocese of Des Moines. He officially starts as director May 15.
﻿

Deacon Mike opening "Right
to Life" day at the Iowa Capitol

Deacon Mike was ordained August 14, 2010 and
serves St. Augustin Parish, Des Moines.An attorney, he has hosted FOT since last May when the program
began.He also writes a monthly column
for the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic
Mirror, and is the co-host for the bishop’s
weekly program, In the Heartland with
Bishop Pates.

He also serves as chaplain for Bridges of Iowa, a faith-based substance abuse treatment
program and is also a board member for InnerVisions HealthCare, an unplanned
pregnancy and STD medical clinic. He is the author of two murder mysteries, Murder Most Holy and End of the Line.He lives in West Des Moines, Iowa with his
wife, Luanne, and two “four-legged kids,” Bo and Buster.

He succeeds Deacon Michael Riley who has served as
director for the past ten years and who announced his retirement this
spring.Named associate director was
Deacon Fred Cornwell of Adair, Iowa.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who is
an open lesbian, has announced a proposed wide-reaching LGBT ordinance that she
plans to fast track into law within the next two weeks. This special rights
ordinance is a direct threat to people of faith and traditional morality in the
City of Houston. The ordinance would give government new power to force private
individuals and businesses to affirm homosexual conduct and actual or perceived
“gender identity” or face serious criminal penalties.

All legitimate anti-discrimination
protections, including race, color, national origin, sex, and religion are
already protected in state and federal law. The reality is that this ordinance
will only serve to specifically impose “sexual orientation” and “gender
identity” as protected classes onto the private sector of Houston, while
centralizing the power of investigation, fines (up to $500/day), and punishment
under the Mayor.

The ordinance, much like San
Antonio’s controversial anti-Christian ordinance, is a direct threat
to any person in Houston that holds a biblical or traditional view of marriage
or sexuality, whether in government or in business. Here is an analysis of just
a few of the serious problems with the ordinance:

The ordinance would force employers
and a private business owner to violate their religious and moral convictions. It subjects individuals to criminal prosecution for
refusing to participate in the celebration of the homosexual lifestyle because
of their religious beliefs or conviction of conscience. A similar law in
New Mexico was used to force a
Christian Photographer to use her gifts and talents to affirm
and participate in a same-sex ‘commitment ceremony’ that she disagreed with or
face punishment by the state.

The ordinance falsely equates race
with sexual conduct. The Civil Rights Act of 1964
bars discrimination based on race (and color, national origin, sex, and
religion). It is disingenuous to attempt to hijack the Civil Rights movement by
comparing an inborn, involuntary, and immutable trait with sexual conduct or
transgender behavior. The U.S Supreme has declined to subject classifications
based on “sexual orientation” to the “strict scrutiny” legal standard that
applies to race.

The ordinance will allow men access
to women’s bathrooms, shower rooms, and locker rooms. The proposed ordinance requires Houston businesses to make
all women’s bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms available to all who are
dressed in female attire, without regard to biological sex. This will
place women and children at risk.

The ordinance increases government
interference in the private sector. It
would essentially substitute the judgment of Lesbian Mayor Parker for that of
the employer regarding what qualities or characteristics are most relevant to a
particular job. Houston businesses could be forced under penalty of law to hire
people that openly promote behavior that is contrary to their religious
convictions.

The ordinance is declared a “public
emergency” while providing no evidence of any systemic discrimination. The mayor is seeking to shut out the public in the
process, asking that the ordinance “be passed finally on the date of its
introduction.” There is no evidence of a need for this sweeping ordinance, and
it is clear the mayor does not want the ordinance to be properly vetted.

It is reported that the ordinance
will considered by the full council on May 7. If approved, the ordinance would
go into effect immediately.

Texas Values is an organization
dedicated to preserve and advance a culture of
family values in the state of Texas. You can check out its web site here. This article was reprinted from the Texas Values blog.

Things
are not going altogether according to plan for Planned Parenthood, thanks to
your support for the tireless efforts of Alliance Defending Freedom staff and
allied attorneys across the country to preserve women’s health and safety and
protect life in the womb. In just the last few weeks alone, by His grace, we’ve
seen a solid array of wins in this critical arena, in states like:

·Alabama, where Planned
Parenthood has challenged the state’s law requiring abortionists to have
admitting privileges at local hospitals. Planned Parenthood asked the judge to
rule immediately in its favor. Instead, he ordered the case set for trial.

·Arizona, where a federal court
refused to place a hold on a state law requiring abortionists to dispense their
life-ending drugs according to federal Food and Drug

Alan Sears

Administration rules. (The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco has now
overridden the lower court’s decision and put the hold in place, pending review
– but did not criticize the decision.)

·Kansas, where Planned
Parenthood pressed for two of their facilities to receive priority in state
funding – but a federal court ruled that state law put public health
departments and hospitals at the front of the funding line. Indeed, the court
ruled, the state doesn’t have to fund Planned Parenthood facilities at all.
(The decision is one in a groundswell of state efforts to defund Planned
Parenthood, in wake of a Congressional investigation urged and assisted by ADF
attorneys.)

“Planned
Parenthood’s efforts to put their profits ahead of the safety of women and
children continue to fail,” says ADF Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “America’s
largest abortion seller has not succeeded so far in its opposition to
common-sense laws that put women’s health and well-being ahead of Planned
Parenthood’s bottom line.”

But
the greatest victory of all came in Colorado, where earlier this
month the state senate was poised to pass Senate Bill 14-175, the
noble-sounding “Reproductive Health Freedom Act.” The bill would have, in the
words of our friend and ally Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila, “essentially shut
down any attempt to pass life-affirming legislation in Colorado ever again.
More than that, it [would have enshrined] the ‘right to abortion’ into Colorado
law.”

Specifically,
the bill would have blocked required waiting periods for abortion, mandatory
ultrasounds for expectant mothers, and restrictions on abortion pills for
minors. It would have allowed girls of 10 or 11 to obtain abortions without
their parents’ knowledge or consent.

But
the bill’s almost certain passage began to falter in the face of testimony from
ADF Attorney Natalie Decker and others. Hesitations grew when
more than 1,000 people showed up at the state capitol on Tuesday, April 15 to
pray with Archbishop Aquila and then flooded the state capitol building to
express their opposition to the bill.

Then,
from Tuesday to Thursday, state senators were overwhelmed with calls and emails
from constituents voicing their own opposition – many of whom showed up at the
capitol in person again on Thursday. Senate leaders got the message, and in
a procedural move, effectively killed the bill.

In
the wake of the bill’s demise, people reported seeing Planned Parenthood
lobbyists – the main force behind the bill – crying over their loss. We pray
God would touch those same hearts to weep for the lives of children aborted in
the womb.

Please
join me in praying for that day to come soon – and even sooner, for the day
when no children are aborted at all. And in the meantime, let us rejoice in
these God-given victories, and give thanks for all those who continue to find
the courage to speak out boldly, faithfully for the preservation of life. And
thank you – for doing so much to make all of this possible.

Alan
Sears is president, CEO, and general counsel
of the Alliance Defending Freedom

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Faith on Trial is where we examine the influence of law and society on Christianity. Here we will look at those cases and events that impinge on the rights of Christians to fully practice their faith. Join us every Tuesday morning at 9 or listen to our re-broadcast Tuesday evening at 9 (Central). The program can be heard on IowaCatholic Radio: 1150 AM; 88.5 & 94.5 FM and streaming on iowacatholicradio.com. Host is Attorney and Deacon Mike Manno.